When I first got to Northwestern, I taught for one quarter in the spring of 1977.
Then I was offered a job teaching for the next year.
They got in the money, they got in the line in the budget to teach for a whole year.
So what I did at that point, there was a meeting in which they tried to decide what I was going to teach, what they would have me teach.
And I remember it was a dinner with Patty Winell, the head of the film division, and then Stuart Kaminsky sent a memo.
That was typical of Stuart.
He didn't go to evening meetings.
And Jack Ellis showed up after dinner.
Dana Hodgson was there for some of it.
And Patty started everybody drinking.
And it was real clear that the intention was to get really drunk.
It was this real male event after dinner.
And Patty really went after Jack Ellis and humiliated him in front of me.
And I really felt like I was being presented as the new gun in town.
I was right out of a Western and I couldn't figure it out.
It was like I was so shook up at how shitty these human relationships were in this department that I was thinking, shit, I really would like to have this job for a year, but at the same time, how could I possibly work in a place like this? And the next day I flew out to California and people who know me, who met me out there, say I was really shook up for about two or three days.
And I was really thinking about not taking the job.
I thought, how could I possibly work in an environment where people treated each other so badly? It was really vicious and unpleasant.
And it hasn't changed that much sometimes.
I think it's a good thing that I'm still here.
I'm still here.
I'm still here.
I'm still here.
I'm still here.
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I'm still here.
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I'm still here.
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I'm still here.
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I'm still here.
Okay, well at this faculty meeting on Friday, this is the one where they said that they wouldn't hire Julia.
They said that even though she was the best person for the job, that...
And they really liked her.
And they liked her.
They said they all said that they loved Julia.
But they said that they wouldn't hire her at Northwestern because it was intolerable to have three feminists on the faculty or three Marxists on the faculty.
But they can have three pigs on the faculty.
Oh, that pigs don't count.
They're in the majority.
That was their total reason for not hiring.
Yeah, oh, they said that they...
Didn't want a couple.
They didn't want a couple.
But that was ridiculous.
I mean, they already have a couple on the faculty.
And then they said that...
I mean, they said that she was the best scholar and she was the best teacher.
She was best all around.
But they just couldn't have another radical on the faculty.
It would just be too best.
The other feminists.
They're afraid of what people might think.
Well, I think that...
See, what happened was that the students, there were two student votes and they voted for Julia.
And Michelle voted for Julia and I voted for Julia.
And then the people that were left, there were three votes.
There were four votes for and three against.
But the three against are the tenured faculty.
And they're the ones who have the most...
The three daddies.
The three old farts, basically.
With three little pigs.
And one of them said that all the trouble with the women making a lot of fuss over sexism had started when we got there.
That his piggy attitude had nothing to do with it at all.
The feminists made the sexism.
There wouldn't be any trouble if you people hadn't started it.
Well, I think he's concerned that their reputation is going downhill and he doesn't want to have more radicals come in and destroy their reputation.
He doesn't want to change.
The candidates are going to come in.
They're not going to be a feminist or a Marxist.
They're going to be something else.
They said they couldn't have a feminist or a Marxist.
That's what the chairman of the department said.
He had said all along, we have to find the best guy for the job, right? Well, I mean, he literally meant that.
He'll only hire a man.
He'll only hire one of his buddies.
The best old boy.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
You know, we don't want to quote a system for women because we want to choose the best possible candidate.
So if the woman is the best possible candidate, then we would choose her.
But we don't want to quote a system for women or for blacks.
So they got this round.
They got this round.
They got me.
I'm the best possible candidate.
And all of a sudden they don't want that system either.
In other words, they don't want to say they have to have a quota system because they have to hire women.
But when they get a woman and they admit that she's the best possible candidate, then they don't want a feminist.
I mean, you know, it's like the whole thing was a lie from the beginning.
Well, that's what it feels like.
I mean, it's like this guy said, we'll hire the best possible guy and then we'll shake the department around what he can bring to the department.
Well, that clearly was a fantasy there.
I mean, you know, well, it wasn't a fantasy.
He didn't intend to hire a guy.
But the fact that they would cater to whoever came in, what they could bring to the department, that was a fantasy.
I mean, that person didn't have to have certain specific qualifications.
No, no, they were just going to hire the best possible person.
The best guy.
The best according to what? Well, that's according to the chairman.
I'm the best by whatever what they had.
I mean, they all had to admit that by whatever standards they could possibly apply.
The average.
Yeah.
But then the standards, they couldn't go by that.
They couldn't take the best anymore.
Not the best they don't want because it's radical.
What if you told them you would renounce your release and have a sex change operation and then would they hire you? Are you just done? I'm just done.
Who would want a penis? I mean, that was conditioned.
What? Who would want a penis? Is he going to see a picture of my mother? Sure.
Is he going to hear it or is he going to see it? We'll see.
But I mean, the thing is, it's like this incredible catch -22 for me.
I mean, because it's like this one guy's wife made a movie about how Jews couldn't get into universities in Russia.
And he does the same trick on me.
I mean, the Jew always faces a trick exam when they come up for entrance exams or they don't get promotions.
You know, and he.
He changed the rules on them.
And that's why all these Jews came to Chicago.
All these professional Jews came to Chicago for that reason.
So now this guy's doing the same thing to me.
In other words, I'm like the Jew and he's like the Russian only he doesn't realize that that change has taken place.
You know what this reminds me of? Remember that conversation? What does it say, Lynn? Lassage said her Marxist political beliefs overshadowed who I am as a person in the minds of the tenured faculty.
What do you think of that? It's absolutely true.
When a woman is turned down because of her feminism, her Marxism, and her relationship with another person in the department, what can we say but blatant sexism? It's repression of the intellect.
Fairly powerful positions are down.
Don't you think so? Yes.
OK.
Well, my theory is that inequality is not going to work.
That affirmative action is not going to work because that women basically are smarter than men.
And that the only reason the men run the world is because they realize that they can say we're so dumb.
They were going to have to totally control everything or the women would not tolerate them at all.
And probably they'd be extinct by now.
So the men decided that they would just keep control over everything.
Now if they let a woman have equal rights, the woman is obviously going to just become the head of everything because she's smarter and she can do more.
And if it was based on how much you can do and how much you know, then the women would be running it.
So that's why the men have to keep the women out of it completely.
You have a very low opinion of men, don't you? It's not in the paper.
It's the true fact.
I can't help it.
Don't you think there are intelligent men also? Not the ones who run it.
Oh no, them no.
But do you think that's sexual? I think it's a mistake.
I think that, no, I think that men are dumber than women.
I think that dumb men are more powerful than dumb women.
Dumb women just kind of keep quiet.
Dumb men talk more to make up for being dumb.
They want to be in control.
And since they're dumb...
You're saying that since the intelligent people should control them...
No, I'm just not...
How lucky can I say? What should the world be like? I don't know the answers to these questions.
What about filmmakers? Filmmakers are assholes.
Male filmmakers.
Male filmmakers.
Don't you think that there are some intelligent men that pull out of the studio? These women.
Yeah, sure, they're intelligent men.
You know, they're given the chance.
There's not as many as there are intelligent men.
I know what it's like.
The intelligent men play along with the dumb men and allow the dumb men to do what they do.
Yeah, well, in the name of the intelligent...
No, they're intelligent.
They know what side of the bread their butter's on.
You know? What's your favorite part of the film? When I first got to Northwestern, when I first started teaching there...
I heard from one of the students that every day after my...
at the end of my film theory class...
that one of the students in that class went up and talked to another faculty member...
and gave a report on everything that I had said in the film theory class.
It was just that kind of suspicion and gossiping and going around behind people's back in the place.
I'm Donnell.
I like to ride bikes.
Characteristic of Northwestern, affluent, very affluent.
That sums it up right there.
Hi, I'm Vicki Pomerance.
I'm a junior, radio, TV, film major.
I've noticed a lot about Northwestern students that they're very competitive, especially in tech and CAS...
because they all want to get into law school and they're all trying hard for those 4 .0 averages.
That's about it.
Fred Barney Taylor, filmmaker in New York City.
Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, 1966 -1970.
1966, the big political issue on campus was parietal hours.
Could women visit you in your dormitory room? After much political arguing, the decision was yes.
Dewey Graham, the son of Otto Graham, responded by setting off firecrackers in any male's room...
and had a woman visiting them.
In 1967, nothing happened at all.
In 1968, Bruce Daniels, not his real name, wrote, fuck you, on the Deering Meadow in front of the library...
using chairs that were set out for the ROTC maneuvers.
He was expelled from school.
A year later, he was in the Weather Underground.
In 1969, Chuck Jones asked Jack Scissors and principal of advertising...
What was so good about Hertz and Avis each spending $18 million so they could outdo each other on their advertising campaign? Why didn't they just get together and have one car company that would serve all the people at cheaper rates? Chuck Jones dropped out of journalism school.
In 1970, after the incursion of Cambodia, the students rioted.
Tearing down the fence you see behind me now, they barricaded Sheridan Road.
A man finally broke through in a 1965 Dodge, totally demolishing his car, but he broke the barricade after two days.
Why don't you stop? Four, three, two, one.
My name is Michael Marcus.
I'm a professor of mathematics at Northwestern University.
I've been there for 14 years.
When I arrived in 1967, there was an active SDS movement on campus, about 70 people, four or five supportive faculty and two of us who were very strongly involved.
We had an extremely effective anti -war group at Northwestern.
By 1969, perhaps we had as many as 200 people at weekly meetings, but our activities existed every day.
We were responsible for having ROTC moved off campus.
For a time, the student movement inspired the faculty to abode our no credit for ROTC, which was tantamount to having it removed.
It only lasted for two years, but it was an effective action.
The military presence on campus, the indifference of the university administration to the war, the unwillingness of the university to oppose the war, all these things were attacked and attacked very effectively.
I say this because it seems that there's a conception that Northwestern is only a middle class institution.
Many students feel that they are different, but that student body as a whole is only concerned with going into business and making a lot of money.
But it's not true.
The anti -war movement at Northwestern was more effective than any other place in the Illinois area.
The demonstration of tearing down the picket fences and barricading Sheridan Road in the strike of 90 % of the student body and a good number of the faculty, that did not come out of the blue.
It came from careful organizing, and there was an effective, consistent left movement, which lasted at Northwestern as long as it lasted at any of the other universities.
Now it seems that there is no political activity.
In fact, there isn't any political activity.
But I think that the middle class university is sort of a tinderbox, that there's a very uneasy alliance between middle class children and their parents.
My name is Steve Bliss.
I'm a senior in the film department.
Every Northwestern student here has more money than I do.
Three, two, one.
Okay.
My name is Suzy Daw, and I'm a graduate student in the film department.
And I would characterize Northwestern students as being very clan -ish.
They sort of like stick to their little priorities and fraternities.
If you don't belong to that, you don't fit in.
They also dress better than I do, and pretty rich for the most part.
And most of them I don't like, and that's all.
Northwestern students are hard -working, industrious, bright, and they don't have very much money.
Now if you believe that, I got a beautiful bridge to sell you.
That's it.
What's your name? Tom Snyder.
Come student.
Graduate.
Forgot to say that.
My name's Doug Heil, Northwestern grad student here.
I object to the fact that I'm being condescended towards by the camera.
And Northwestern students, well there's not a lot to say about them.
It is an ivory tower, and most of us are very complacent in our ivory tower.
The education is comfortable, and it's better here than in the working world.
I believe in free education, sex, all that you can have at a university.
Sometimes it's harder to get elsewhere.
And that's all I have to say right now.
Thank you.
I'm Roy Wood.
I'm the dean of the School of Speech, and I think Northwestern students are terrific.
The only problem is they're very passive people, and they don't tend to want to get involved in anything.
Just look at these three up here, for instance.
Now if you'll put your hands over your eyes, and yours over your ears, and yours over your mouth, there you see three typical Northwestern students.
Aren't they gorgeous? Monica Foy.
I'm a Northwestern student myself, and what I think about Northwestern students is that they're very diverse, and most of them are just very strange.
